


Making The Wrong Connection

by collatorsden_archivist



Category: Ashes to Ashes, Life on Mars & Related Fandoms, Life on Mars (UK)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, R/NC-17 - Brown Cortina, Time Period: 1981-2006 (Life on Mars), Time Period: 2006-present (Life on Mars), Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-11-16
Updated: 2009-01-05
Packaged: 2019-01-20 19:10:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12439719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/collatorsden_archivist/pseuds/collatorsden_archivist
Summary: What would happen if Alex made sure the younger version of her got the tape that showed her Father had killed himself and her mother and had attempted to kill her too? Would her future be any different and would the Gene Genie come to her rescue....? Some GALEX.





	1. A Cunning Plan

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Janni, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [the Collators' Den](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Collators%27_Den), which was moved to the AO3 to ensure access and longevity for the fanworks. I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in October 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [the Collators' Den collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/collatorsden/profile).

  
Author's notes: Summary: What would happen if Alex made sure the younger version of her got the tape that showed her Father had killed himself and her mother and had attempted to kill her too? Would her future be any different and would the Gene Genie come to her rescue....? Possibly GALEX not too sure yet!!

Disclaimer – I don’t own Ashes to Ashes or the characters. If I did Gene Hunt would be all mine and him and Alex would be at it like rabbits on the show! The lovely people at Kudos own them....lucky bastards!!

Just a quick note, this is dedicated to some very important people to me: Lara, Cat, Claire Bear and Sades – you ladies mean the world to me and although we’re all so far apart you ladies have given me so much love and support over the past few months....this is for all of you xxxx  


* * *

Sitting opposite Gene, Alex cautiously studied him. She couldn’t believe a few short hours ago she had seen her parents die, Gene rescue the younger version of herself and learn what had really caused the car to explode. She felt a vast range of emotions; happiness that Shaz was out of hospital and would be returning to work shortly; grief that she had lost her parents again, sorrow that she hadn’t been able to save them and a deep sense of loss that she wasn’t home with Molly. Most of all she felt confused.

 

 

As she was still trapped in the 80’s then why was she still there. What connection hadn’t she made?

 

 

Looking again at Gene laughing and joking with the rest of the team, Alex felt a surge of anger towards him.

 

 

‘What right does he have destroying evidence? Never mind destroying evidence, what right does he have to keep that information from a young girl who is going to grow up confused about what happened to her parents?’

 

 

Alex lifted her glass from the table and downed its contents. Shuddering slightly at the taste, she reached for the bottle and poured herself another glass.

 

 

“Don’t you think you should go steady Bolls?” a concerned albeit slightly sloshed Gene asked.

 

 

“I think I’m a grown woman and I can do whatever I like ‘Gene’.” replied a pissed off Alex, using the air quotes around his name just to wind him up.

 

 

“What have I told you about waggling your bloody fingers when you say my name??”

 

 

“Right now ‘Gene’, I just don’t care.” Alex responded, using the air quotes again around his name.

 

 

Getting up with her glass in her hand, Alex walked over to the bar stools and made herself comfortable talking to one of the younger WPCs who had moved to avoid Ray’s lecherous stares and his awful advances.

 

 

As the night wore on Alex’s jumble of emotions continued and she was left wondering what connection had she failed to see? Where had she gone wrong? Why wasn’t she home with Molly now? How was she going to get home to her?

 

Her head a mess, which the alcohol clearly wasn’t helping with she said her goodbyes and went upstairs to her flat.

 

 

Reaching the top of the stairs, she fumbled putting the key in the lock. Finally getting it in she twisted the lock when she had a flash of inspiration.

 

 

‘The plastic covering of the video cassette may be broken but that doesn’t mean the tape was in any way damaged and there is only one was to find out.’

 

 

Quietly and stealthily, Alex made her way back down the stairs. She needn’t have worried about the noise she was making, the few of CID still in Luigi’s were singing along to ‘That’s Amore’ so loudly that she could have been having an orgy on the stairs and they wouldn’t have heard her. Opening the door Alex peered from left to right several times making sure there was no-one outside. Satisfied the coast was clear she ran around the corner from Luigi’s and headed towards the station.

 

 

Walking up the stairs to the station, Alex carefully opened the door and flattened her body against the wall. She didn’t want anyone to know she had been in there and wanted to make sure that it was thought the cleaners had disposed of the tape. Peering in through the door to the main desk, Alex looked to see if the night desk sergeant was there. She couldn’t see any sign of him so she slowly opened the door and walked through to CID.

 

 

Opening the door to Gene’s office, she stepped inside and shut it again, just in case. Making her way around the desk, she knelt down and started to look through the bins contents. Underneath various bits of paper at the very bottom of the bin was the video cassette with shards of black plastic everywhere. Being sure not to loosen the shards, she picked the tape up out of the bin and looked at it. Upon further inspection, the tape appeared to be intact. Removing the white reels and the tape she put them in her pocket and placed the pieces of paper back over the top of it when she heard a noise.

 

 

Unable to do anything else she hid in the foot well underneath Gene’s desk. Hearing the door to the office open she willed her heart to stop pounding and her breath to stop rushing out of her. Hearing the distinctive ‘click’ of boots, she knew immediately that it was Gene, no doubt there to drink his whiskey supply after being kicked out of Luigi’s.

 

 

Alex could hear him walking over to the bookshelves, picking up a glass and the bottle of whiskey and walking to sit at his desk. She realised that the minute he stretched his long legs under the desk she would be caught out. Luck was on her side however, as once Gene sat down he swung his legs up onto the desk, poured himself a glass of the amber nectar and appeared deep in thought. She watched as he absent mindedly swirled the whiskey around in the glass before drinking it all and pouring another glass.

 

 

To Alex, what felt like hours had passed cooped under the desk, trying not to move too much as her muscles began to cramp up. Looking up at Gene she saw he had fallen asleep at his desk, the glass precariously balanced upon his lap. As quietly as she could, Alex began to move from her hiding place trying not to make any noise as the circulation returned to her muscles. Once free from underneath the desk, she crawled past Gene’s chair to the edge of the desk and got up. 

 

 

To look at him sleeping, Gene Hunt looked at least 10 years younger and all the hardness was removed from his face. Not wanting him to be disturbed she carefully removed the glass to avoid it being knocked off and placed it on his desk. Alex then removed his long black coat from the coat stand and placed it over him so he would get some warmth. Unable to help herself, Alex then lent forward and stroked the hair off his face. Gene muttered incoherently in his sleep and seemed to snuggle down into his jacket.

 

 

Alex crept out of the office and being as cautious as she was entering the building she made her way back to her flat to get some sleep.


	2. A Plan in Action

Another day... another chapter! This is the last chapter before things start to turn into something I hope is interesting! This is for the lovely people on Luigi’s who have reviewed the first chapter but it is especially for my Mum for believing in me and keeping me motivated. Love you xxxxx

 

 

Previously....

 

 

Alex crept out of the office and being as cautious as she was entering the building she made her way back to her flat to get some sleep.

 

 

The next day Alex woke early. Getting out of bed she removed the bed shirt she had on, grabbed her dressing gown and made her way to the bathroom. Turning on the tap in the shower, she found the perfect temperature, slipped off her dressing gown and let the stream of water wash away her problems.

 

 

Getting out of the shower, Alex dried herself off, wrapped her hair in a towel and put her dressing gown back on. Venturing into the kitchen she made herself some breakfast and a cup of tea. After eating a couple of slices of toast she took her cup to tea into the lounge and sat on her sofa looking at what she had left on the table the previous night.

 

 

The tape was taunting her. Should she or shouldn’t she? What would happen if she did? If she really had died, showing her younger self the tape wouldn’t make a difference to anything would it?

 

 

Either way Alex had decided that she wanted to see the video again. Picking up an unlabelled video from the side of the television, Alex slowly and carefully removed the top and then prised the casing apart. Removing the white spools from the video, she wound up the stolen tape and placed one of the spools inside before adding the other and tightening the tape. Putting the tape back together she got up and put it in the video. Her finger hovered over the play button. 

 

 

Giving herself a mental shake she pressed play.

 

 

“If, err, all goes to plan by the time you are watching this I will be dead along with my wife Caroline and our beloved daughter, Alexandra. Why did I do it? The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them. Well not me and err not Caroline. We sang our song but a very charming man, a maggot, wiggled into our paradise and it was erm, compromised the truth was sullied and it could never be unsullied. But shed no tears for Me er, Caroline or Alex. We are where we want to be together, forever.”

 

 

The snow at the end of the tape came up on the television screen but Alex didn’t move to stop the video. Silent tears poured down Alex’s face again. How could her father have done that to her? She still couldn’t get over the fact that ultimately this was a result of her mother’s and Evan’s actions. Alex realised that even thought what they had done was wrong and had obviously devastated her Father he had completely over reacted to the affair. 

 

 

Looking back on the meeting she’d had with Tim only two days before hand she did get a sense that he was a bit odd, but she didn’t even consider that it was possible he was involved with the likes of Layton.

 

 

“Alex. Alex! Look at me Alex” The clowns face replaced the snow on the television screen.

 

 

Alex lifted her head and looked at the TV screen. On it there was the set from Bullseye, with herself and Molly as the contestants.

 

 

“Now then. You’ve had a good day and you’ve won £75 which is yours to keep. You’ve also won some fantastic prizes. Now do you want to gamble your prizes and play Bully’s star prize gamble or do you want to walk away? Come on Audience; let’s give Alex and little Molly some help!”

 

 

The audience which at first had all looked normal now looked like the clown and were cheering her on to gamble. Jim changed into the clown.

 

 

“So Alex, what’s it going to be? Are you going to gamble?”

 

 

“Stop it! Just stop it!” Alex screamed at the television. 

 

 

Closing her eyes, Alex then looked at the screen and the snow was back.

 

 

Moving to sit on the sofa, Alex began sobbing. If everything was just a construction of her dying mind, why was her own mind torturing her so much? All she wanted was to go home and see her daughter. Now she knew the truth why hadn’t that happened?

 

 

Making up her mind she knew what she had to do. The question was when would she get the opportunity to do it? Thinking on the aftermath of her parents’ death she found she couldn’t remember very much at all. Was been here as an adult clouding her own memories of what really 

 

happened?

 

 

Deciding on a course of action, Alex roused herself from the sofa and went to wash her face to remove the evidence of her tears. Walking into her bedroom, she pulled on her indigo jeans, blue off the shoulder top and her black boots.

 

 

Leaving the flat, she gathered her white jacket around herself from the bitter chill of the October air and walked down the street. She carried on walking for some time, lost in thought but her feet appeared to know where she was going and it was with a shock she found herself already at her destination.

 

 

Looking at the house in front of her, she carefully looked at every feature and every detail; the wrought iron fence and gate, the leaves on the pavement and in the garden, the ornate bay windows with twelve panes of glass and finally the dark blue front door. Alex gazed up the steps with a familiar sense of longing, the same longing she felt as a child whenever she left home to go to school.

 

 

Searching in her pocket, she found the set of keys which she had placed there the day before and had forgotten about.

 

 

Feeling as though she were being watched, Alex looked up at the window and saw the curtain move back into place. 

 

‘That’s funny, I don’t remember coming back home the day after my parents were killed. I wonder whose inside?’

 

Walking up the stairs, Alex paused then hammered on the door. After waiting a few moments the door opened to reveal an ashen faced Evan.

 

 

“Hello Alex. I didn’t expect to see you here. Would you like to come in? I’m just getting some things for little Alex.”

 

 

Without waiting for an answer, Evan ushered Alex in the front door.

 

 

“How is little Alex coping with everything? Who am I kidding; the poor child has just lost both her parents. She must be so lost and confused as well as utterly devastated.” Alex asked Evan and then cursed her stupidity; obviously working with a group of mainly insensitive men had started to rub off on her.

 

 

“Actually, she’s handling it all a lot better than I am. She seems to have Caroline’s sense of calm and adaptability, the two things that make...made her a fantastic barrister.”

 

 

The brave face Evan had been putting on crumpled and hot, salty tears poured down his face. Doing the only thing she could think of, she guided him into the sitting room and held him as he cried. After half an hour, Evan’s sobs had subsided and he fell into a fitful sleep. Taking the opportunity she had been presented with, Alex gently moved Evan from her lap and began looking around the house. It didn’t take long to find what she was looking for. In her childhood bedroom, she saw a hold-all which was half full of her childhood treasures. Glancing around the room, she retrieved her diary from the hiding place and placed it in the bag. Taking the cassette out of her pocket she placed it in the middle of some clothes. Making sure it looked like nothing had been disturbed, Alex left the room and went back down stairs. Leaving a note for Evan she left the Price house one final time.

 

 

Making her way home, Alex was overcome with waves of tiredness even though it was only early afternoon. Barely able to make it into her flat, Alex passed out on the sofa and fell into a dreamless sleep.


End file.
